Hades is, unsurprisingly, one of the best roguelites on the market, and its sequel is equally impressive. The isometric camera angle adds to the action-packed arenas, and the feeling of losing isn’t bad – it just gives you another reason to fight through the underworld. Sworn is clearly inspired by Supergiant Games’ brilliant game, and it’s just launched with a huge discount.
Roguelites make for some of the best action games, and the greatest in the genre pull off that ‘one more run’ feeling effortlessly – before you know it, you’re gripped onto your best handheld console as the sun rises and you wonder where all of that time went. Sworn is a new rival in the market, and it’s doing some things very differently.
Based on the iconic story of Arthur and his Knights of the Roundtable, you and up to three friends play as a group of budding adventurers looking to save a fallen Camelot after the aforementioned Arthur and his Knights have been corrupted. While Hades may offer a great single-player game, Sworn lets you tackle endless amounts of foes with your closest allies.
Unsurprisingly, this isn’t a cozy game that you can enjoy with a warm drink and take things at a relaxed pace. Sworn offers an isometric camera that will see you fight in intense battles with your choice of a variety of roles and using a random assortment of blessings, and while it’s easy to compare it to Hades, Sworn does a lot of things that make it stand out in a crowd of roguelites.
Admittedly, Sworn has only launched in early access right now, so it’s got a long way to go before it can be worthy of the best Steam Deck games list. However, the performance is already impressive on Valve’s handheld (and likely the Steam Deck alternatives too), even if there’s no Steam Deck badge on the storefront just yet. That does mean content will slowly be added to the game over time, but that also gives you more reason to return to the twisted version of Camelot over time.
Right now, you can grab Sworn for just $17.49 / £17.49, a 30% saving off the retail price, on Fanatical. That’s impressive, considering the game only launched on Thursday, February 6, 2025 – meaning you’re getting a big discount for a new game. After playing 50 hours of Hades 2, this is a breath of fresh air, and I can’t wait to sink just as many hours into it.
So, if you’ve been looking for another roguelite to tuck into as you wait for Hades 2 to reach the coveted 1.0 update, Sworn could be a great experience for you. If you’ve yet to pick up a great portable handheld, check out our thoughts on which is better: Steam Deck OLED or ASUS ROG Ally X. Following that, if you decide to go with Valve’s hardware, I think you should also grab the best Steam Deck docks to go with it.